16-year-old gets 11 years for gang shooting

NEWS SUN STAFF
REPORT

A Waukegan 16-year-old has been sentenced as an adult to prison for what authorities describe was a gang shooting.

Juan J. Aguilar entered a negotiated guilty plea to aggravated battery with a firearm and was sentenced by Lake County Circuit Court Judge Victoria Rossetti to 11 years in prison. He must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence, even with time off for good behavior.

The victim, a 15-year-old boy, had been sitting with two friends on the front porch of his family's home in the 400 block of South Jackson St., during the afternoon last April 11, when a black Honda sedan pulled up with three people inside. all wearing sweatshirts with the hoods pulled up over their heads.

Children playing in the parkway shouted that the trio were members of a rival gang. As a .22-caliber rifle was aimed out of a rear window of the car, the teenagers on the porch dove for the floor and shots were fired.

The 15-year-old was hit by a bullet that went through his neck, bounced off his collarbone and exited through an armpit. He was taken to hospital and has recovered.

The car pulled away, but police tracked down the occupants through witness descriptions. One of the other gang members identified Aguilar as the shooter.

Aguilar, who was six days short of his 16th birthday when the shooting occurred, was initially charged with attempted murder. That was reduced during negotiations by prosecutor Kenneth LaRue and Assistant Public Defender Sharmila Manak, who Wednesday recommended a guilty plea to aggravated battery with a firearm, and a sentence of 11 years in prison. Rossetti accepted both recommendations.

Aguilar was charged and sentenced as an adult. Law enforcement officials indicated there had beenanother shooting between the rival gangs several weeks earlier.


08/25/06

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